Frankenstein

The first novel of the scientific revolution and, incidentally, the first novel of science fiction

How many fictional characters have made the great leap from literature to mythology; how many creatures of sheer language have stepped from the rhythms of their author's idiosyncratic voices into what might be called a collective cultural consciousness?

Frankenstein appeals to something very primal, but it's also about profound things, the very nature of life and death and birth

Mary Shelley more than made a name for herself and thrived without a formal education, becoming a trailblazing female writer in a genre still dominated by men today

The greatest novel of the Romantic movement